UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $700.00 target price on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 37.25% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $510.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $469.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $549.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $562.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.83 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after acquiring an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after purchasing an additional 318,039 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,025 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,920,039,000 after purchasing an additional 21,149 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage.